Maelstrom Knight
by Oturan Namikaze
Summary: In a world where Magic is everywhere and in every living creature in some form or another, there is one who doesn't seem to fall under that category. This man's name is Naruto, the Personal Knight of Princess Elizabeth, and this is the story of their journey to find the Seven Deadly Sins... and how it changed the course of history for all of Britannia and its people. Pairings later


**_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Seven Deadly Sins. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto and Nakaba Suzuki respectively. I also don't own any other anime or its characters that might appear in this story. There will also be some elements from Black Clover as well, which is owned by Yūki Tabata. So without any delay. Sit back, relax and enjoy the story._ **

People Speaking: "Power without love is reckless and abusive."

People Thinking: _'Love without power is sentimental and anemic.'_

 _Monster/Demon Speaking: **"Absolute power corrupts absolutely."**_

 _Monster/Demon Thinking: **'The Guiding Light and the Vessel of Wicked Blood.'**_

Techniques or Titles: **"Spiral Meteor!"**

 **Chapter 1 – The Knight with No Magic**

"Man… where the heck is she? I know those rumors were talking about a rusted armor knight around here somewhere." A sixteen year old spiky-haired blonde with whisker-like marks on his cheeks muttered to himself as he wondered through the forest with an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. The teenager was wearing a long-sleeved orange jacket with a black cross designs on each shoulder, over a black t-shirt and gray pants that were connected to a unique pair of boots with heavy plating over them, and a necklace that had a green crystal gem hanging from it. Strapped onto the right side of his orange leather belt was a pouch that had a red spiral pattern on it and his right hand was completely covered in wrapped bandages. "I mean seriously, I know I told her that I'd catch up to her, but if she keeps moving around then how am I supposed to find her." Coming to a halt as the ground beneath him began to rumble, the blonde narrowed his eyes as he felt a quick spike of magical power in the distance. "What the hell?"

"Mommy! Mommy!" Blinking a few times at the new voice, the teen turned his blue-eyed gaze in time to see a pig running in his direction. "Get out of the way!"

"Holy crap! That pig just spoke!" The teen called out in shock, not moving from his spot when caused the talking pig to crash into his legs before falling back to the ground. "What the heck are you?"

"Isn't it obvious?! I'm a pig, ya genius!" The pig retorted angrily as it quickly got back to it's feet. "I don't have time to deal with you, I need to find my mama before things get bad!"

Noticing the blood coming out of the pig's back, the blonde quickly reached out and grabbed the pig by its ear to prevent it from running. "H-Hey! It's not a good idea to be running around with an injury like that."

"That's why I'm running! There's a scary knight guy that's attacking my friend and that girl!" The pig shouted back as it tried to start running again, only for Naruto to hold a tight grip on the pig. "Hey, let go of me, buddy! Or else you'll face the fearsome power of Sir Hawk! Captain of Scraps Disposal!"

"Sorry, Sir Hawk. But what did you say about a girl?" The blonde apologized as he turned his gaze towards the path the pig had come from," Tell me, did she have long silver hair and an earring on her left ear?"

"Uh-huh! Wait! How do you know that? Are you after Elizabeth too?!" Hawk questioned as he glared up at the teen, who went silent as he let go of the pig's ear and stood up straight. Before the pig could say anything however, Hawk felt something press against the area he had been stabbed by the tree bark and looked back to see a bandage was now resting on top of the wound. "Hey! How'd you do that so quickly?" Turning his head back to look at the blonde, the pig's sentence fell on deaf ears when he saw that there was no one else in the area with him. "He disappeared so fast!? Ugh, never mind! I need to find my Mama!" Shaking his head, the pig turned around and charged off into the direction he was heading towards before running into the vanishing stranger.

 **(On Another Area of the Forest)**

"Please! Try to escape while you still can!" A sixteen year old Elizabeth, who was dressed in a damaged black, skintight jumpsuit that came with leggings and long armbands, cried out as she and the mysterious blonde man she encountered were lying in the ruins of the destroyed forest, the latter saving her from being struck by the attack of a large Apprentice Holy Knight by the name of Twigo.

Position over Elizabeth in a protective pose, the blonde man was shown to be on the short side with messy blond hair and a pair of emerald eyes. He was dressed in ordinary, clean white button-front shirt and a black sleeveless vest on top with a loosely worn tie, with a Broken Sword's scabbard on his back that is held on by a green leather belt with gold-colored buckles, and finally a pair of black boots. The short, youthful man kept himself over Elizabeth as he turned his head back to look at Twigo with a calm expression. "You say that, but I seriously doubt he's has no intention let either of us come out of this alive."

"Why?" The man turned back to look at Elizabeth at the sound of her voice and saw that tears were starting to fall down her cheeks even though she was doing her best to wipe them away, "I was so happy when my friend and I went out to search for the Seven Deadly Sins together… Even though I had never traveled anywhere before and I was so nervous and scared. Then we got separated and I walked all that distance until my body collapsed. And now you've been so kind to me, despite the fact that we're strangers… I don't even know your name, that's why I don't want you to get caught up in my problems!"

A small smile formed on the man's face as he looked down at Elizabeth, "My name? It's Meliodas!"

"Huh?" Elizabeth blinked in surprise as her tears came to a halt, shock soon forming on her face as she processed what the person over her had just said. "You're… But that's not…" The silvered haired girl's gaze drifted to the torn sleeve on Meliodas' left shoulder and saw a red tattoo engraved on it. "That symbol, is it a beast… No, a dragon!"

"Enough of this." Twigo stated as he made it over to the two until he was standing over them with his sword held high. The large, armored man swung down with his magic channeled into his sword, only to feel something strike the side of his head just before his weapon could make contact, redirecting his attack into the air away from the two on the ground before causing him to stumble back a few feet. Bringing his gauntlet up to his temple, Twigo brushed his fingers against the tender area before moving it in front of his face to see that there was blood on his glove. The frown on his face grew as he turned his head to see some dust had picked up in the area between him and the two he tried to attack, as well as a figure standing in side of it.

"Are you okay, Elizabeth?" A voice called out from the dust cloud in front of the girl and Meliodas, causing the princess' eyes to widen as she recognized who was speaking. The dust blowing away to reveal a blonde teenager with a serious look on his face and his fists clenched tightly, "I've finally caught up with you."

"N-Naruto!" A happy expression appeared on Elizabeth's face as she felt relief at seeing the spiky haired blonde, while Meliodas blinked as he tried to figure out who the new face was.

Twigo narrowed his eyes as he stared at the new enemy to appear before him, once again ruining his confirmation of death tallies. "Who are you boy? How dare you get in my way?" Naruto didn't reply as he stared coldly back at Twigo before turning around to Elizabeth and Meliodas before walking up to them. "Huh?! Where are you facing? Do not ignore me when I am speaking to you?"

But Naruto continued to ignore the man as he walked up to the two still on the ground before lifting Meliodas off of Elizabeth by the back of his collar, placing him back on his feet before turning his attention to the princess. Holding a hand out to her, Naruto has a small smile on his face as he looked down at her. "You really had me worried with all the moving around that you did, Elizabeth." The blonde said as Elizabeth took hold of his right hand, allowing herself to be pulled up to her feet.

"I'm sorry, Naruto. But with all the chaos…" Elizabeth trailed off when she watched her friend shake his head with a sigh.

"Shouldn't it be me who apologizes for leaving you by yourself? Especially since it's my job to keep you safe... Well, we're together again and that's what matters…" Naruto shifted his gaze to the smiling blonde next to Elizabeth, who despite his youthful looks and short appearance was someone that the taller blonde immediately recognized. "Not to mention, you managed to find one of the Seven Deadly Sins because of it. And it's the Dragon Sin at that."

"Wow, so you knew who I was with just a glance, huh?" Meliodas commented as he crossed his arms over his chest. "That means you crossed paths with our group before."

Naruto flashed Meliodas a grin before his face turned serious as he looked back at Elizabeth, "You're not hurt, are you?"

"No, I am fine thanks to Sir Meliodas." Elizabeth replied while wiping away a stray tear that had fallen down her face.

"Good…" Spinning himself around, Naruto gave Meliodas a quick glance before walking forward. "Watch over her while I take care of this guy."

Meliodas stared at Naruto with a calm expression as he stared at his fellow blonde's back, studying the younger man as he walked closer to Twigo with an unreadable expression. The Dragon Sin of Wrath could immediately tell that there was something off about the teenager, especially when he tried to get a read on Naruto's magical power… It was almost as if…

"If I remember right, you're that Apprentice Holy Knight, Twigo. You're the younger brother of that idiot Kaide, probably just as stupid as him too." Naruto berated as he cracked his neck.

"How dare you!?" A look of rage formed on Twigo's face as he raised his sword above his head once again before swinging it down as hard as he could, only for Naruto to reach up and take intercept Twigo's attack before the man could finish his swing, "Impossible! I put enough magic in my sword to destroy this brat with absolute precision, and yet…" The knight's eyes narrowed as he stared down at the blonde teenager standing between him and the two a few feet away, the most shocking part was that the blonde was holding Twigo's sword with his bandaged right hand. "He managed to not only catch my blade, but somehow managed to withstand my magical attack!?"

"… Is this really all you have?" With a smirk forming on his face, the blonde increased the pressure on his grip causing the blade to start cracking before it shattered into pieces. Staring at the broken shards in his hand, the blonde threw them away while shrugging. "Now that's what I call pathetic craftsmanship, though combined with a pathetic excuse for a knight like you, I guess you're a perfect pair."

"Wow, this guy is pretty good." Meliodas commented as he and Elizabeth watched Naruto intercept and break Twigo's blade, "He's got the skills of a Holy Knight, though something seems off about him. I can't sense any magic coming from him at all."

"Naruto isn't one of the Holy Knights." Elizabeth started as she brought a hand up to her chest, a small relieved smile forming on her face as she stared at her fellow teenager's back. "He is actually my personal knight assigned to guard me… and the reason you can't sense any magic from him is because he was born without any."

"Wasn't born with any magic, none at all?" Meliodas repeated to himself as he crossed his arms over his shoulder. Though he didn't show any reaction to the information, the Sin of Wrath was shocked at that information. Magical energy was part of every living creature, it didn't matter if it was something like an insect or plant life, a Holy Knight or a civilian who only had enough to stay alive, and magic was all around them in some way or another. But to hear that there was someone who didn't have a single drop in them was unbelievable… though now that he thought about it, he was sure that he had heard of such a thing from someone in the past.

"She keeps saying Naruto…?! C-Conclusion! I finally figured out why you look so familiar!" Twigo shouted as he took a fearful step back, watching as Naruto reached into the pouch on his side and pulled out what appeared to be a black hard cover book that looked like it had seen better days with what looked like a five-leafed clover one the covers. "That spiky blonde hair and a right arm completely covered in bandages! A Five-Leaf Clover symbol on that book in your hands! There is no doubt, you are him!" The man's words made Naruto's smirk grow wider as the teen held up his book as it started to glow _._ "The No-Magic Abomination!"

"So, you do know who I am… That's good." Naruto stated as he held out the book to the side with a smirk growing larger on his face, a strange crimson aura covering the book as it floated off the blonde's hand before opening on its own and flipping through several pages until it came to a stop to reveal an unreadable lettering covering the pages. "Then you know exactly what's coming to you for trying to kill Princess Elizabeth!"

"Y-You… LITTLE BRAT!" With fear flowing through him, Twigo charged as much power as he could into the remains of his sword before swinging it down at Naruto, who continued to smirk as he evaded the attack while smacking the broadside of it away with his right hand, causing Twigo's magic-powered swing to change directions and avoid hitting both Naruto and the two behind him. "He was able to deflect my attack with his hand once again! But how?! I don't sense any sort of magic coming from him!"

To the Twigo's shock and Meliodas' surprise, a black sword hilt emerged from the pages of Naruto's book before it was followed by the rest of the sword, which revealed it to be a heavy broadsword with the blade and the hilt separate from each other and connected by its fuller. Despite its impressive size, however, the large weapon was mostly covered in dirt and scuff marks that clearly showed the poor state it was in. Gripping the hilt of his sword tightly, Naruto raised over one of his shoulders with a determined expression, though this was not what Twigo was paying attention to as he saw a strange shadow-like aura form around Naruto for a brief second before taking a fearful step back. "Having magic isn't everything, and redirecting any attack like yours is easy if you know how… Now let see how you handle this! PUNISHMENT FOR TRYING TO KILL ELIZABETH!"

The large man didn't have time to block as Naruto swung the greatsword into the center of his armored chest, but instead of cutting the armor, a large sword delivered a powerful blunt force impact that easily destroyed Twigo's armor and the ground underneath the two of them. Continuing his powerful swing, Naruto sent a seriously injured Twigo flying into the air, his armor continuing to break apart as blood and dust trailed behind him. Twigo only had one thought flowing through his mind as his body came crashing to the ground at the base of the mountain. _'Such extraordinary physical strength! To think that this boy… has no magical power at all!'_

Meliodas let out a whistle as he stared at the remains of the battlefield with crossed arms, "Not bad. I didn't expect to see the Black Grimoire in action. Last time I saw that thing, it was picking up dust since no one could use it."

"Oh, you know about it?" Naruto replied as he turned to face Meliodas and Elizabeth while sheepishly rubbing that back of his head with his free hand, "I've had it for a while. Got real lucky on it choosing me to wield it, the only problem I have is how dull the blade is."

"Dull, huh… I don't see it being a problem if you can do all this." Meliodas replied as he examined the area with a shrug, taking in all the damage created from the battle and Naruto's final attack. "You certainly dealt a good blow with that last one."

"It was his own fault for trying to hurt Elizabeth!" Naruto retorted as he positioned the tip of his sword towards the open pages of his Grimoire before pushing it into book, causing it to magically return to where it came from. Closing the book and placing it back into its pouch, the blonde walked up to Elizabeth, reaching a few feet away from her as the two stared at each other silently for a few seconds before Naruto reached out a lightly chopped the top of Elizabeth's head.

"Ouch~!" A small amount of tears built up in Elizabeth's visible eye as she rubbed the top of her head, "Why did you do that Naruto?"

"That was for disappearing on me!" Naruto exclaimed as he crossed his arms, the combination of worry and anger visible on his face as he reprimanded the girl. "Do you have any idea how worried I was? Your safety is my top priority!"

Elizabeth's eye widened slightly before her gaze fell to the floor, "I'm sorry… I wasn't able to find you, so I was worried about what happened to you. I put on that armor so no one would recognize me and I figured if I wondered around long enough we could find each other… Though that may have been a stretch now that I think about it."

"… Haaah," Letting a heavy sigh escape his lips, Naruto scratched the side of his cheek before reaching his hand out and rubbing the top of the princess' head, making her look up at him with a confused expression. "It's as much my fault too for worrying you. Forgive me, Elizabeth."

"Naruto…"

"If you two are done now, I think we should get out of here." Meliodas interrupted with a dull-eyed expression, snapping the two out of their conversation to look over at the Dragon Sin. Taking in a small breath, Meliodas stared at the two of them with a small grin and his hands on his hips. "You two are looking for the Seven Deadly Sins, right, Elizabeth? Well, I guess this means you guys found your first one."

""Huh/Eh?" Both Elizabeth and Naruto blinked as they realized that Meliodas was right, leading the latter to take a step forward. "So, do you know where the others six are?"

The shorter blond shook his head at that, "Not a clue. But I do have some business to discuss with them, so I've started looking for them myself. The tavern I am running is my way of gathering information on all sorts of things. It can be a bit slow some times sinceI am mostly handling things on my own with a little bit of help from Hawk, but if I had a pretty girl I know we'll get a lot more intel to point us in the right direction." A large grin formed on his face as he placed his hands on his hips, "So what do you say? Want to come with us?

Elizabeth turned her head towards Naruto and saw that he was mirroring her actions to look at her, the two soon starting to smile at one another before turning to look at the waiting Meliodas. "We'd be happy to!"

"Awesome!" Meliodas continued to grin as he shifted his gaze to look at Naruto, "And I suppose Mister No-Magic here can come along too. Having more employees with help out with all the customers we'll get."

A look of shock form on Naruto's face after hearing that, "I WASN'T PART OF THE INVITE?!" But before anything else could be said, a strange sound could be heard coming from above their head before a shadow formed around the three, making them look up to see something large and green falling towards them. Moving themselves out of the way with Naruto carrying Elizabeth, the three managed to get out of the way as an extremely large, green pig wearing what looked like a pointed tavern as a hat, land next to them. "What the hell?!"

"How's that for perfect timing?!" A familiar voice spoke up as Hawk could be seen looking down at them from the top of the green pig followed by a ladder unrolling down the side to where they were.

"Way to go, Hawk's Mom!" Meliodas shouted as he ran towards the ladder before leaping high towards the middle, with Naruto and Elizabeth right on his heels as they secured themselves on the ladder as well.

"Wait, I'm the one who brought her here!" Hawk exclaimed as he watched the three quickly make their way up the ladder, "Wait. Isn't that the guy from earlier? What's he doing here?"

Meliodas was the first one to make it up with a grin still on his face, with Elizabeth and Naruto making it to the top with the taller blonde bringing up the rear. "He's coming along! Now then, Hawk's Mom, let's get out of here! Onward to the next town!" With those words leaving his mouth, Hawk's Mom started walking off into the distance, leaving the stunned and injured knights staring at the enormous, retreating green pig in shock.

 **NELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNEL**

"Haa! Raagh! Hah!" It was early morning a few days later and a shirtless Naruto could be see standing outside the Boar Hat Bar with the bandages still covering his hand and forearm, and his greatsword in hand, swinging it repetitively in various directions while switching from one hand to two hands. Sweat could be seen pouring down his face and muscular build as he continued kept doing his sword reps, before coming to a stop with one final swing as he heard the door to the bar open and turned to see Meliodas standing at the door with his hands in his pockets. "Good morning!"

"Morning." Meliodas greeted with a smile on his face as he made his way down the steps, "You're certainly up early."

"I always wake up this early to get some training in. It's been a routine since I was little," Naruto replied as he dismissed his sword and put the Grimoire away before sitting down on the surface of Hawk's Mom's back before he started doing sit-ups at a fast pace. "I can't do a lot in the magic department, so I need to focus on my physical abilities as much as I can. Gotta keep pushing passed my limits."

Meliodas blinked as he tilted his head slightly, "I think I've heard someone say that before. Hmm… Oh yeah. That's something Yami Sukehiro used to always say, right?"

"Wait, you know Yami-sensei?" Naruto paused in his workout to face Meliodas, surprised to hear that the Dragon Sin and Captain of the Seven Deadly Sins knew the man who taught him how to fight.

"We've crossed paths a few times in the past." Meliodas shrugged as he looked out at the direction that Hawk's Mom was walking in, "He was a pretty strong guy if I remember correctly, though I didn't think he would have the patience to take on a student."

"That guy was a sadist for sure." Naruto muttered to himself as he laid back and stared up at the clouds in the sky for a few moments before speaking up, "So, was there a reason you came out here?"

"Straight to the point, huh? I figured it would be better to ask you since I'm sure it's a sore subject for Elizabeth at the moment, but I was wondering about what happened back a month ago in the Kingdom of Liones. She had told me about the coup d'état that the Holy Knight pulled before she escaped, but she didn't go into details." Sitting down on the steps, Meliodas motioned for Naruto to join him, to which the blonde made his way up to the older man while grabbing a towel from the pile of clothes and his Grimoire. "Could you tell me what happened?"

"… There's not really much to say really… It happened suddenly after the King called for me and Yami-sensei to see him. Elizabeth was there too, though like me, she didn't know why… But I guess Yami-sensei had an idea as soon as we heard pounding at the throne room doors…"

 ** _(Flashback)_**

 ** _"Please open the door!"_**

 ** _"There's nowhere left to run!"_**

 ** _"Your Majesty!"_**

 ** _Taking an inhale of his cigarette, Yami, a tall muscular man with black hair and eyes as well as a stubble mustache and beard, who had a lit cigarette in his mouth. He was wearing a simple white A-shirt and black trousers that had an extra layer of tan leather that covered from his outer thighs down to his knees and finally black high boots, removed the lit item from his mouth as he stared at the locked door in front of the four, "… Damn, I didn't think the idiots would actually go through with it."_**

 ** _"It was only a matter of time… Naruto, you must take Elizabeth and flee from this place." King Bartra ordered, making the blonde and his daughter turn towards him with shocked expressions._**

 ** _"But Father!"_**

 ** _"You want us to just leave you guys here?! But who knows what they'll do to you if we run!" A wide-eyed Naruto said as he took a step closer to the King, only for Yami to smack the back of his head and sent him stumbling forward. "What the hell was that for, Yami-senei?!"_**

 ** _"Don't count us out yet, kid. I seriously doubt that they'll do anything to the King, not to mention I'm not going to lie down and let them try to kill me. Even if they don't like it, I'm one of their strongest Holy Knights still in the kingdom. They won't try to get rid of me yet." Just as it looked like Naruto was about to say something, the black haired man patted the top of his student's head. "Don't waste your time worrying about us. You're the Personal Knight of Elizabeth Liones, so do you job and protect her._**

 ** _"Yami is right, Naruto. You are the only one I can trust with this responsibility. I am not just asking you this as a king, but as a father as well… Keep Elizabeth safe." The King stated with a serious expression, making Naruto pause before bowing his head in acceptance at King Bartra's request. Nodding his head at the boy, the man turned to look down at his youngest daughter, "Elizabeth, you and Naruto must leave the kingdom at once!"_**

 ** _"I don't want to escape without you, Father!" A tearful Elizabeth tried to convince her father, but the King remained firm as he shook his head._**

 ** _"I will be fine. There are still Holy Knights like Yami that are still in the kingdom," King Bartra then pointed a finger towards the nearby wall, "Over there, under the third lamp to the right is a secret compartment that takes you to a pathway that leads out of the castle."_**

 ** _Crossing his arms while positioning himself next to the throne, Yami was the next one to speak. "If you stick to the shadows like I taught ya, you both should be able to get passed the kingdom's gates undetected. Good luck, kid."_**

 ** _"… Yes, sir… Don't die on me, old man." Naruto said in a low tone before moving over to Elizabeth and placed a hand on her shoulder, making her turn to look at him. More tears built up in her eyes as she saw the apologetic look on her friend's face before hesitatingly nodding her head and rose to her feet. Holding her hand tightly, the two made their way towards the wall that King Bartra had pointed towards, quickly finding the switch that opened the wall and revealed the stony path._**

 ** _As they entered the secret pathway, they could hear the King say one final thing, "Be safe and stay strong through this endeavor, you two. Stick together and never doubt each other."_**

 ** _The two of them were silent as they closed the secret pathway's entrance until only a sliver remain for the two to see what was happening, and much to Elizabeth's horror, the doors leading to the throne room were covered in a brief electrical energy seconds before it exploded. The princess' view of the room ended as Naruto finished closing it with his free hand, afterwards the blond gently squeezed the hand he was holding onto, making her turn to look at him._**

 ** _"I'm sorry Elizabeth, but we need to go now before they find us!" The blonde whispered to his tearful friend, before leading her through the pathway and out of the castle, where they could see trails of smoke coming out of several open windows. But that didn't stop them as they continued making their way until they passed the gates, doing their best not to look back at the chaos happening behind them._**

 ** _(Flashback End)_**

"We managed to avoid detection for a few weeks, but then someone caught sight of us and I did my best to throw them off our trail. You know the rest after that." Naruto finished as he leaned forward while resting his arms on his knees.

"Sounds like you guys went through a lot. Speaking of which," Meliodas shifted his attention to Naruto's bandaged arm. "What happened there? Looks pretty bad."

"… Oh, this? It's actually not a bad as you think… just an ugly birth deformity. I keep bandages on it so I don't freak people out." Naruto answered before rising to his feet, stretching his arms over his head. "I think I've work out enough for today. I'm gonna wash up before breakfast."

Meliodas nodded his head before a smirk formed on his face and pointed ahead, to which Naruto followed and saw a town in the distance "Good timing. We're getting close to our next destination."

"Cool. I'll get Elizabeth after I finish cleaning up."

"Don't worry about that. I'll go get her."

"Not a chance!" Naruto shouted angrily as he pointed a finger at the shorter blonde, who had an innocent look on his face. But Naruto had no intention of falling for it, having seen Meliodas do multiple perverted things to Elizabeth such as revealing her panties or groping her breasts, to which Naruto would send Meliodas flying in angry retaliation. "There's no way I'm letting you anywhere near her while I'm not in the room."

"I promise I won't do anything perverted." Meliodas gave the teenager a thumbs up with sparkles around his face.

A deadpanned expression appeared on Naruto's face as he crossed his arms, "… That's the same thing you said when you tried to have her sleep in your room… in the same bed… before trying to get her out of her torn clothes."

"You don't have to worry Naruto, I'll make sure he doesn't try anything!" Hawk called out as he emerged from the open door with a puff of steam blowing out of his snout.

"Thanks, Sir Hawk. I'm counting on you." The spiky haired blonde said with a relieved sigh before making his way inside the Boar Hat Bar. Hopefully the pig would prevent the perverted Dragon Sin from trying anything.

 **(A Few Minutes Later)**

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT OUTFIT?!" A red-faced Naruto shouted as he shook the shorter blonde by his collared shirt, the Sin of Wrath having a blank expression as he was thrown into the air, only to readjust himself and land on one of the tables. The blonde wasn't done as he turned his attention to the pig in the room, "I thought you were keeping an eye on him, Sir Hawk!"

"Trust me, this was the least perverted outfit he wanted her to wear. I'm sorry his tastes are on full display." The pig apologized as he shook his head.

"I-It's not that bad, Naruto." Elizabeth said as she tried to calm her friend down, though she had to admit that the outfit was more revealing than what she was used to. Out of the torn jumpsuit, Meliodas had given her a new outfit that composed of a pink buttoned shirt with a black ribbon exposing her belly button, a dark mini skirt strapped with a pink belt, a black stocking on her left leg, and black-white heels. "Sir Meliodas said this was the tavern's uniform. I'm going to need it to wait tables in order to hear any rumors and or possible information regarding the rest of the Seven Deadly Sins."

"Elizabeth, I'd be more likely to believe that if he wasn't scoping you out from every angle." Naruto pointed out as the bar's owner was doing just that as he circled around the girl and examined her appearance. Hawk stopping Meliodas as he was about to lift up her skirt… He had to admit, the outfit did look good on her. Shaking his head a few times to get that thought out of his head, Naruto let out a sigh as a small redness remained on his cheeks. "If we're going to get some intel, we should keep an ear out for anything on the Holy Knights as well."

"My thoughts exactly!" Meliodas spoke up as he stood next to Naruto while patting the teenager's side, before pulling out a bunch of folded clothes and presented them to Naruto. "We've also got a uniform for you too."

"Huh? Wait, you mean I'm going to be waiting tables as well?!" Naruto questioned in shock as Meliodas placed the clothes in his hands.

"Among other things, don't forget that we also get female customers too!" Meliodas said cheerfully before pushing Naruto into the backroom and closed the door behind him. "Don't come out until you put everything on."

"Excuse me, Sir Meliodas?" Elizabeth spoke up, making the man and Hawk turn to look at her. "I've been thinking for the past few days and I've been wondering why so many people are saying that you and the rest of the Seven Deadly Sins are such terrible criminals. I mean, you were kind enough to protect me even though you didn't know who I was, so you can't be that bad, right? If all of you are guilty, what sort of crime did you commit?"

"My crime, huh?" Meliodas seemed to give the girl a thoughtful look as he turned away from her while crossing his arms, before turning to look at her with a serious expression. "To tell you the truth. Ten years ago, I traveled all over Liones, stealing all the panties I could find."

"You're joking, right?" A flustered Elizabeth questioned as she couldn't believe he could say that with a straight face.

"Of course I am." Meliodas answered with a straight face, throwing the girl off balance. But the man wasn't done as he rubbed the back of his head and continued, "The real crime is that I groped the perfect boobs of a thousand different pretty girls."

"G-Groping! That's a joke too, right?!"

"It is."

With a flustered look on her face, Elizabeth had enough of Meliodas' perverted jokes. "Please stop toying with me! Or is the crime so terrible you can't talk about it?"

"… Well, mayb-"

"The Seven Deadly Sins are known as the ones who handle the most brutal of jobs when no one else can, no matter how cruel it might seem. The reason they are called the Seven Deadly Sins is because each member apparently committed a crime that falls under the sin they are labeled under." Naruto's voice called out as he exited the backroom, walking towards the stove behind the bar counter, "But the crime that they were said to have committed ten years ago was that they supposedly killed the Great Holy Knight."

"The Great Holy Knight…" Elizabeth repeated as she look from Naruto to Meliodas, who had his usual calm expression.

"So you know about that, huh?" Meliodas tilted his head a bit before nodding his head, "The uniform looks good on you, though where's your tie?"

"Those things are a pain, so I decided not to wear it." Naruto was now wearing a white long sleeved shirt that had the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and the top button undone with a black vest over it and black dress pants that reached his boots. The blond shrugged as he turned on the stove and started getting ingredients ready to start cooking. He didn't know how to do much, but making a simple breakfast was easy for him. "It was kind of hard not to know about what happened when all the drunks in town wouldn't stop ranting about it. Though since I was a kid, I never really believe them."

"You didn't?" Meliodas raised an eyebrow at that.

"There was no reason for you guys to do it, right? Not to mention the way that he was killed didn't match weapons or fighting styles any of you used." Naruto continued as he took out some eggs and cracked them into a pot, tossing in some spices from time to time. "… Also, I was a stubborn brat who refused to believe that the Old Man would do something like that unprovoked."

"Wow, talk about a strong denial." Hawk muttered, only for Meliodas to lightly bop him on the head while not taking his eyes off Naruto.

"So you did know one of us when you were little?" The Dragon Sin deducedas he watched Naruto continued to finish making breakfast as he sliced up some fruit to serve with the eggs.

"… Yeah." That was all Naruto said as he continued cooking until he finished placing the food on three plates while dumping the scraps into Hawk's plate on the floor. The blonde walked over to the nearest table and placed the plates down, "Now come on, we need to eat up before we get into town." Almost as soon as he said that, the four felt the building tipping and Meliodas immediately moved until he was in front of Elizabeth and allowed gravity to make her fall onto him with his head between her breasts and his arms wrapped around her waist. Though this didn't last long as his head was removed seconds later before one of Naruto's boots collided with it and sent him crashing into the floor, breaking some of the floorboard in the process. "What did I say about doing perverted things to her, bastard?!"

The leader of the Seven Deadly Sins simply pulled his head out of the floor without any signs of injury and turned to them with a smile, "Hey! Looks like we made it! Let's eat quickly and head into town!"

 **NELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNEL**

Following Meliodas' advice, the group finished eating their meals quickly and made it out in time to see Hawk's Mom dig herself into the earth until only the building there. Satisfied with the results, the short blonde led the group down the path that led to the village. "This is our newest pool of information, Vayna Village! Not only is it a good place to get any new intel, but I also came here for their special liquor. Most of my stuff can be bought all over, but Vanya's can only be gotten here. It's made from the finest water you can fine in all of Liones combined with the gruit that grows along the river. This ale has fans far and wide."

"Maybe so," Hawk spoke up as the group arrive at a bridge over the river, or rather, the remains of a river. "But that famous water you were talking about has gone bone dry from the looks of it."

"The herbs along the bank have withered and died, too." Elizabeth pointed out as the group saw many of the plant-life had turned brown or worse.

"What's going on?" Meliodas wondered out loud as he looked from the bone-dry river and dead herbs towards the village up ahead.

Naruto perked his head to the side as he faced the village as well, "Sounds like something's happening."

"Wow~! Look at all the people out here! Do you think some kind of festival is going on?" Elizabeth asked as the group entered the village and saw a larg e crowd of people surrounding something a little further in.

Deciding it was better to just get it over with to find out what happened, Meliodas took the lead as he walked up to the nearest townspeople, "Howdy there!"

Two of the men turned their heads to see the short blonde was walking up to them with Elizabeth, Hawk and Naruto trailing after him. "Oh, it's the owner of the Boar Hat."

"So what's up? Got a festival happening?" Meliodas questioned, only for the men to send them heated glares.

"This look like a damn festival to you?! We're trying to pull out a sword that a Holy Knight jabbed into the ground!" That instantly caught their attentions as the group looked passed the two and saw a bunch of men surrounding a single sword that was stuck deep into the group grabbing various parts of the hilt and handles, as well as using rope for multiple people to pull it. Unfortunately none of them were succeeding as the weapon refused to budge an inch.

"A Holy Knight did that?" Meliodas raised an eyebrow, while behind him, Elizabeth gained a worried look while Naruto crossed his arms with a puzzled expression. "But why?"

The Sin of Wrath's question was answered by an elderly man that walked up to them, "Just the other day, we incurred the wrath of a Holy Knight. After that, he infused his sword with magic and stabbed it deep into the ground, sealing off all of our groundwater sources under our village."

"We don't have much time before we lose our gruit too, so we need to get it out quickly."

"And without either of them, we won't be able to make any more Vayna Ale!"

"A Holy Knight…?" Elizabeth muttered as she stared at the sword still stuck in the ground with exhausted villagers all around it, "Could it have been the man you defeated the other day, Naruto?"

Naruto shook his head at that as he crossed his arms, "No way. That Twigo guy isn't even on the level of the stronger Holy Knight Apprentices, let alone someone as strong as a Holy Knight. It be like comparing the breeze created with a handheld fan to a powerful hurricane."

"He's right about that." Meliodas nodded his head as he turned to look back at Elizabeth, "The Holy Knight who did this is on a completely different level."

"Only those with the power of a Holy Knight can remove the sword of another," The elderly man stated before letting out a heavy sigh. "It won't be easy for everyone here to accept but as long as that sword remains, we are done for…"

"Oh no." The worried expression on Elizabeth's face grew at that.

Meliodas and Naruto were silent as they stared ahead at the scene before them, the former keeping a calm face while the other had a small frown. Whatever thoughts that were going through their minds came to a halt as they noticed kid walking past them.

"Come on, guys. What's with all this moaning and groaning?" Many turned to look at the kid with looks of anger and annoyance upon hearing his words, many of this muttering the name 'Mead' as they looked at him. The boy seemed to ignore this as he puffed his chest while placing his fists against his waist, "A Holy Knight's sword stuck in the ground is nothing! My buddies, the Seven Deadly Sins were here, that sword would be gone by now."

That instantly caught the attention of the group of four that just arrived.

"That's enough, Mead! Whose fault is it that we have predicament in the first place?!" One lady shouted at boy, causing the bravado he was displaying to instantly vanish. "Of all the things to say! You have to mention those criminals one top of everything?!"

"She's right!"

"Don't piss off the Holy Knight any more that he is!"

"Do you have a grudge against us or what?!"

"No… Please…" Naruto's gaze softened as he stared at Mead's back as the latter stumbled with his words, "That's not the reason I did it!"

Another villager snarled as he glared down at the boy, "We've had all we can take of all your mischief and lying!"

"Mead, you're such a jerk!" One of the younger girls shouted while she threw a rock at him, only for her bad aiming to completely miss Mead's head and sail right passed him before colliding with Meliodas' face. This made his companions look at him with either worry (Elizabeth), blink before brushing off like it was a common thing (Hawk), or look away as he struggled not to laugh (Naruto). It didn't seem to hurt Meliodas though as the rock to the ground and the short blonde looked unbothered by what happened despite the red mark covering a good chunk of his face.

"Hmph! I HATE YOU GUYS!" Mead shouted at the large crowd that was starting to yell back at him.

"Yeah, well we hate you more, Mead!" More of the other kids followed the girl's example and started throwing more at Mead, most of them hitting Meliodas while Naruto moved himself in front of Elizabeth to prevent the others from hitting her. The two watched as Meliodas spun around with Mead in his hands as the midget pushed the kid in the direction of the Boar Hat, the boy shouting the entire way.

"Stop it! All of you!" The elderly man shouted as Mead and Meliodas disappeared in the distance.

"Looks like we picked a lousy time to come down here." Hawk commented.

"Deep down, he's an honest, good-hearted lad." Elizabeth turned her head to look at the elderly man after hearing that while Naruto focused his gaze at the Boar Hat.

 **(Inside the Boar Hat Bar)**

"Well, that sure sucked. Though not too bad compared to other times in the past." Meliodas muttered to himself after making it inside his bar and placed Mead at one of the tables, "So kid, what was all…"

Mead was quick to interrupt as he turned to face Meliodas, "Don't call me that. You're a kid, too."

"No, I'm really not." Meliodas replied with a calm face, having been used being called such by many of his customers.

"What is this, a tavern?" Mead asked as he finally got a good look at the place.

"Yup, the Boar Hat." The short blond answered while crossing his arms, "It's my place."

The boy blinked at that as he looked from the wall of liquor bottles back at Meliodas, "Well… I'm hungry!"

"If you answer my questions, I'll get you some food."

"Nope. Food first, then I'll talk!"

An annoyed looked formed on Meliodas' face as he let out a low grumble before walking towards the stove, "Fine… I promise it'll be something you've never tasted before."

Not much time passed as Mead waited for Meliodas to finish cooking, before the latter returned with a delicious looking dish that was making Mead's mouth water. "Whoa~! This looks great! I can't wait to dig in!" With those final words, Mead grabbed a good portion and stuffed it in his mouth… only to spit the disgusting food out seconds later. "Blech!"

"How's the taste? I promised it'd be something unique, though I never said it would good." Meliodas snickered as he poured himself a drink into a wooden mug, making his way over to Mead's table before situating himself across from the boy. "So, was all that stuff you were saying true? About being friends with the Seven Deadly Sins?"

"Hmm… The food was so bad it gave me amnesia." Mead answered after a few seconds, before sniffing the air as a familiar scent filled his nose. "Wait a minute, I know that smell… You're drinking Vayna Ale! Is it okay for a kid to be drinking that?"

Taking a few gulps of his drink, Meliodas quietly placed the mug down. "I already told you, I'm not a kid."

His words didn't seem to catch Mead's attention as the boy started to grin, "That stuff tastes really good, doesn't it?"

"Heh. Yep," Meliodas answered with a grin of his own. "Getting more of it was one of the reasons we came to the village."

"It's the best! The sweetest, and so full bodied, and… At least that's what the adults say."

The sound of the door opening caught the two's attention and they turned to see Elizabeth and Naruto walking in with Hawk closing the door behind them, which made Naruto turned to look back at the pig with a raised eyebrow. First the pig was capable of speaking like a normal person and now he could open and close doors? What was next? Styling clothes? Turning his head back to see Elizabeth talking to Mead about how the elderly man, who turned out the village chief, had told them about Mead's pranks and the trouble he caused. He remained quiet as he listened to the princess tell the boy a story about how she climbed a tree and how King Bartra got really injured trying to get her even though he had never climb one in his life.

"We were lucky. But if Father had died that day, I would never have been able to forgive myself." Elizabeth finished with a sad smile on her face as she recalled that day very clearly.

"… It's not like I don't do this kind of stuff to get a rise out of them." Mead finally said as his hands tightened into shaky fists, all of the goofiness and attitude vanishing to show the uncertainty and sadness he was feeling, something that instantly caught Naruto's attention. "They're all real good to me."

Standing up, Elizabeth took a few steps closer to Mead and placed a hand on boy's back. "So, why do you?"

"My parents traveled all over even before I was born, we never stayed in one place for too long and our journey brought us here… Only… they died after getting hit with the epidemic that was going around town at the time. I was spared from the sickness," Mead explained as he rubbed his eyes as he thought about the loss of his parents, "The villagers had taken me in, a complete nobody and took care of me… But even then, I was still alone since everybody had their own, _real_ families to worry about, and I became jealous of them and the other kids for still having their families while I had no one… So I started lying. Pulling pranks. Anything I could so they would pay more attention to me…"

"Is that why you put the bug in the Holy Knight's drink, too?" Elizabeth questioned, only for the boy to angrily slam his hands against the wooden table.

"No way! I did it because that Knight treated everybody like crap!" Mead shouted as he told the four about how the entire village had been excited about the Holy Knight's arrival, and served him the best batch of Vayna Ale that the villagers had made in years, and the man's actions that caused Mead to drop the insect into his drink. Leading to the Holy Knight sealing the water away with him magical sword. "That bastard... That Holy Knight made fools out of all of them by saying it was slightly better than horse piss! The adults… they had put in so much effort to making the best ale… I-I… I just…!"

"You couldn't stand it that someone like that insulted the people who took care of you, the ones that you treasure so much. All the hard work, all their pride and sweat and tears. The fact that someone would insult all of the heart and effort put into it, and call it worthless really pissed you off." Naruto spoke up as he watched up to the boy, who turned to look up at the teenager and saw a look of understanding on his face. "It'd be difficult to not do anything to defend those that had done so much for you."

"Y-Yeah! Exactly!" Mead nodded his head furiously at Naruto's words, making the blonde let out a soft chuckle as he sat next to Mead at the table. "You really get it, Mister!"

"Why is he called mister when I'm the older one?" Meliodas muttered to himself as he took another gulp of the Vayna Ale in his mug with a small, noticeable twitch of his eyebrow. Hawk let out a sigh as he stared at Meliodas with an amused smile while Elizabeth remained behind Mead with her gaze on both the boy and Naruto.

Naruto let out another chuckle, "I can understand what you're going through, though my situation was a bit harsher than yours."

"What do you mean?" Mead asked, with a look of confusion forming on his face as well as Meliodas and Hawk.

"You said that your parents died only a little while back, right? Well, I didn't even know who mine were… For the first six years of my childhood, since the day I was born, I was alone. Apparently I was found abandoned by some Holy Knight completely by chance, or at least that was what I was told by the orphanage I was taken to before they tossed me out after my fourth birthday." Naruto explained as he held up his right arm to show more of his bandaged arm, "See this? Under these bandages is a pretty ugly arm, so messed up that it's one of the reasons why no one even gave me a second glance unless they were glares or disgust… But then I came across someone who actually did pay attention to me, a greedy Old Man."

Meliodas blinked in surprise at hearing that, though he didn't say anything as let Naruto continue. Elizabeth had a sad look on her face as she remembered Naruto telling her about this years ago, it was one of the reasons that she believed him when he denied that the Seven Deadly Sins were vicious criminals.

"The Old Man wasn't too bad when he wasn't drunk off his ass, and he actually the first one to actually take the time to teach me anything useful. We had gotten into some trouble because of it, though it was really fun. I actually used to get angry and cause problems for people who would insult him, but it didn't matter to me since if I got in trouble because he was someone I cared about and who cared about me…" Naruto explained as he thought back to "That was the first time that I felt like I wasn't alone anymore… But then things happened a few years later and the Old Man disappeared without so much as a goodbye. There were so many people that insulted him and his friends because they were different and called them traitors, and that pissed me off, which led to me starting fights and getting into trouble."

 ** _(Flashback)_**

 ** _"Hey, did you hear about what happened the other day?"_**

 ** _"You're talking about the Seven Deadly Sins, right?" A townsman replied with a grunt as he and his friends were sitting outside a bar with mugs in their hands, neither noticing a small head turn in their direction. "Bunch of traitors and murderers! First they murder the Great Holy Knight and then they take out three hundred Holy Knights before making a run for it! I always knew those freaks couldn't be trusted!"_**

 ** _"TAKE THAT BACK!" A young voice called out making the two men turn their heads to see a six-year old Naruto wearing a long-sleeved blue shirt with the left sleeve reaching his elbow while the right one went over his right hand, which appeared to have bandages loosely wrapped around it, with an orange hooded vest over it and loose black pants that reached above his ankles and toe-revealing sandals._**

 ** _Both men stared at the boy with frowns on their faces, with the one who spoke earlier letting a drunken snarl as he started glaring at the boy. "Take it back? Like hell I will! Those bastards butchered so many Holy Knights so easily before running away and leaving the kingdom weakened! I hope all of them die like the dogs they ar-" The drunk never got to finish his sentence as the boy slammed his fist into the man's face and sent him crashing through the window, shocking his friends as the boy landed on the table between them._**

 ** _"Don't you talk bad about them or I'll make you all regret it!" The boy declared as he punched a fist into his sleeve-covered hand, his gaze shifting to the other four men still sitting around him. The shock created from his actions soon faded as all of the men shot out of their seats, making the young blonde shift his stance with his arms raised. But before anyone could move, a muscular arm could be seen reaching out and grabbing the top of the boy head._**

 ** _A small puff of smoke blew into the area followed by a deep voice, "Hey Kid! What did I say about ditching me to cause trouble?" Watching the boy let out a panicked shout as the large hand's fingers tightened around his head, to which the men to follow the arm to see that it belonged to a calm faced Yami, who was smoking his cigarette as he held onto Naruto's head._**

 ** _"Agh! Let me go, Smoky Geezer!" The boy shouted through the pain, only to let out a yelp as the grip on his head tightened even more._**

 ** _"Is that anyway to talk to your teacher? I guess I'm gonna have to teach you some respect later." The muscular man said with a calm expression despite his actions, lifting his student off the table and started walking away from the men, "Now come on, there are people waiting for us."_**

 ** _"Hey idiot! Next time keep your brat on a tight leash?!" One of the men shouted causing the muscular man to come to a halt._**

 ** _"… What did you call me?" The man asked as he slowly lowered the boy to the ground, removing his hand from his head, making the blonde let out a sigh of relief as he rubbed his cranium._**

 ** _Too wasted to notice the change in the black haired man's stance, the man drunkenly walked up to the muscular man and started talking again, "You heard me, ya stupid muscle-head! Or do you not have a brain in that thick skull of yours-AAAGGH!" This time, the black haired man spun around as he backhanded the drunk and send him flying into the table, causing it to shatter upon impact and knock the guy out._**

 ** _"That's what I thought you said." The man stated as an intimidating aura surrounded him as he cracked his knuckles, making the other men start to sweat as he continued to talk. "Alright kid! Here's a quick lesson for you. Always finish what you started."_**

 ** _"Yes sir!" The boy grinned excitedly as he let out a small cackle, following his teacher's example as they slowly approached the now sweating drunkards._**

 ** _(A Little While Later)_**

 ** _"I can't believe you, Yami! Getting into a brawl, destroying a bar and sending over a dozen men to the hospital!" A woman dressed in armor was standing in front of the slightly dirtied-up, muscular man, now revealed to be named Yami, who seemed be dismissing the woman's words as he glanced to the side while smoking his cigarette. "You're a Holy Knight, show some grace and be less of a reckless buffoon!"_**

 ** _"Yeah, yeah. It's not like I was trying to do so much damage, people just kept wanting to join in when they saw me and the kid keep thrashing everyone trying to hit us." Yami explained with a casual shrug, which caused a twitch mark to form on the back of the woman's head._**

 ** _Currently the three were standing outside of castle belonging to the Liones Royal Family, rulers of the Kingdom of Liones. Yami and his student had arrived at the castle after causing a brawl that quickly caught the attentions of the military and were greeted by a female Holy Knight named Charlotte Roselei, who was an old friend of Yami's and a Platinum-Level Captain of a female-only order of Knights. The guards at the gate and several other knights were watching as the woman reprimand the two, some with jealousy at how the normally stone-cold beauty of a woman usually ignore men and focused only on her duty as a Holy Knight. This was especially true after all of the chaos that had occurred during the destruction left by the most powerful order of Holy Knights known as the Seven Deadly Sins when they killed the Great Holy Knight Zaratras and three hundred of her now deceased comrades._**

 ** _Crossing her arms over her armored chest, Charlotte shifted her gaze to the scuffed-up boy standing next to Yami. "Which is another reason for you to be more responsible! What if something happened to your student? You're supposed to be teaching him how to fight and defend this kingdom and its people, not attack them!"_**

 ** _"Relax, will ya. It's not like we killed any of them, so no harm done." Yami replied as he took his cigarette out of his mouth. "You keep talking like that and you'll never find a guy who'll marry you."_**

 ** _"Will you stop saying that?! I am perfectly fine with giving the battlefield my full attention!"_**

 ** _"… That's pretty sad."_**

 ** _"Say one more word and I'll kill you!"_**

 ** _"Those bastards deserved it." The young boy spoke up, making the two adults turn to look at him to see he was glaring at the floor with clenched fists. "They were talking bad about the Old Man, like they knew everything about him and his friends!"_**

 ** _Noticing some of the looks they were getting from the nearby guards, Charlotte and Yami exchanged a glance before focusing on the boy. The former letting out a sigh as she started reaching a hand out to the boy, "Naruto, I know you don't want to admit it, but the truth isn't something you can ignore… No matter how much you want them to be otherwise."_**

 ** _The newly named Naruto lifted his heated gaze from the floor and slapped Charlotte's hand before it reached him. "But something doesn't seem right! People would notice if they actually cared enough to look!" Gritting his teeth, Naruto spun himself around and ran away from the two adults, who stood and watched as he disappeared from sight._**

 ** _(Flashback Paused)_**

"It was around that time that I met my teacher and he took me under his wing." Naruto couldn't help but laugh as he remembered meeting Yami for the first time and practically forced the blonde to become his student after literally dragging him across town to his squad's headquarters and threatening him if he didn't agree to become the Holy Knight's student. "But still, I was going through a lot as all the nasty looks and loneliness really affected me… and for a good while, I wondered if I was destined to be alone."

"Really? And then what happened?" Mead asked as he was listening to Naruto's story, feeling a small connection with the blonde upon hearing his story.

His answer was a grin that appeared on Naruto's face as he turned his head to look at Elizabeth, who perked her head when she met his gaze, "I heard someone call out to me and saved me from that loneliness…"

 ** _(Flashback Resumed)_**

 ** _Naruto had ran through the crowds of people in the streets, doing his best to ignore the looks of hatred and disgust that numerous people were sending his way as he ran passed them. Something he was used to by now. It wasn't long until he had found himself in the middle of a small park that had a small pond in the center of it, and luckily there was no one in sight as he made his way to one of the trees and sat down against it, bringing his knees to his chest as he rested his forehead against them. Naruto's shoulders trembled as he struggled to hold back his tears, ones filled with frustration and loneliness. Yet another thing his was used to feeling._**

 ** _"Um, excuse me? Are you okay?" A voice spoke up from above his head, making Naruto lift his head up and look around in confusion as he saw no one around. "I'm up here!"_**

 ** _Blinking at what the voice said, Naruto tilted his head even more until he was looking up the tree to see a smiling young girl with long silver hair and blue eyes sitting on one of the tree branches, wearing a yellow dress that looked like something a noble would wear. Rising to his feet quickly while keeping his gaze on the girl, the blonde boy found that he was unable to speak as he looked up at her for a few seconds before a question escaped his lips. "What're you doing up there?"_**

 ** _"I was just enjoying the nice weather and view from up here." The girl answered before a concerned look appeared on her face, "Are you alright? You look sad."_**

 ** _"I-I'm fine!" Naruto denied as he quickly rubbed away any of the buildup of tears that tried to form._**

 ** _"Really… Then how about you join me?" The girl asked as the concern was replaced with a warm smile as she stared down at him._**

 ** _A frown formed on Naruto's face as he looked around briefly to see if there was anyone else in the park before looking back at the girl while pointing at himself, "You seriously want me to go up there?"_**

 ** _"Of course! There's no one else around but you and me, right?" The smile was replaced by confusion as a thought went through her mind, "Oh, wait. Are you scared of heights?"_**

 ** _"No way!" Naruto instantly denied the implication before making his way to the base of the tree before making his way up towards the branch where the girl was sitting before placing himself next to her with a smug grin. "See! I'm just fine!"_**

 ** _To Naruto's surprise, the girl smiled once again while clapping her hands. "Wow! That was amazing! I've never seen someone my age climb up so fast before!"_**

 ** _"Um, thanks." Turning his head away from the girl as a small bit of redness formed on his cheeks, Naruto's attention shifted as he felt a breeze brushed against his face making him turn his head to see the top of several buildings and the clear sky above their heads. "Whoa~!"_**

 ** _"See, I told you it was nice up here." The girl stated as she tilted her smiling face a bit with her eyes closed, "I'm Elizabeth. What's your name?"_**

 ** _"N-Naruto." While the boy didn't notice it at first, he soon started to feel a smile form on his face as he and Elizabeth continued to converse._**

 ** _(Flashback End)_**

"It was after meeting Elizabeth here that I started to meet more and more people, and I started forging even more bonds with them. I want to do my best to never give up on those bonds for anything." Turning his head back to look at Mead, Naruto reached out and patted the boy's head. "You really care about the villagers, right? Never give up on those feelings. I'm sure they still really care about you as well." Everyone was silent as they processed what Naruto said, until another voice spoke up.

"So, what about you saying you're friends with the Seven Deadly Sins?" Meliodas spoke up, making Naruto and Elizabeth blink as they realized that they had gotten distracted with what happened with Mead and the Villagers.

A small blush formed on Mead's face as he scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed laugh, "I was lying about that. Sorry."

The Dragon Sin sighed in disappointment, taking a final sip of his ale from his now empty mug, "That's too bad. I figured it might've been a long shot, but still kinda had my hopes up."

"What made you tell a lie like that?" Elizabeth asked as she wondered why the boy would say such things when it came to the Seven Deadly Sin, who were considered to be world-renowned criminals by many.

The young boy scratched the side of his nose at the princess' question, looking down at the disgusting food that was still on the plate Meliodas had given him. "The Seven Deadly Sins are wanted by the Holy Knights, aren't they? If they're really going after them, doesn't that mean that the Seven Deadly Sins are the good guys instead of the Holy Knights?"

The newest employees of the Boar Hat went silent as they turned their heads to look over at Meliodas, who had poured himself another mug of Vayna Ale, only to gulp it down seconds later. Feeling that he was being watched, Meliodas turned to see that the two teenagers and Hawk were staring at him. "… What? Is there something on my face?"

All three of them sweatdropped at that, though a small smile formed on both Elizabeth and Naruto's face seconds later.

The moment was interrupted as they heard something coming from outside, "That's coming from the village!" Mead shot out of his seat at this before rushing out the door leaving the three and one pig behind. Both Meliodas and Naruto were silent as they both slowly stood up from their seats with matching serious expressions.

 **(Center of Vayna Village)**

Back in Vanya Village, the villagers were still standing around the Holy Knight's sword, which had still not budged an inch after Mead was led out of town by Meliodas. Two knights, one that was tall and skinny while his companion was shorter and larger with a mustache on his face, had come into town and were now standing in front of the sword.

"Now, listen up! You village riffraff!" The taller of the two shouted to the crowd, while his fellow knight snickered behind his mustache and goofy sneer. "If you haven't pulled out the sword by sundown... then we're going to charge you ten times the normal product tax!"

The villagers all gasped and stared at the two men in horror, "But that's insane!"

"With no water, there's no way we can even make one bottle of ale, much less ten times that amount!" Another villager shouted as more voiced their complaints as well.

"That's your punishment." The larger knight replied as he scolded the villagers like children with a wagging finger. "You not only insulted a Holy Knight, you also claim to be friends with the Seven Deadly Sins, known vicious criminals of the kingdom!"

As the crowd angrily glared at the two knights while muttering curses under their breaths, Mead was seen darting past the villagers and the knights, before coming to a stop in front of the lodged sword and wasted no time in trying to pull it out of the ground with all the strength he could.

"Mead!" An older woman cried out in worry as she watched the boy struggle.

Kneeing on either side of the boy as he tried in vain to pull out the sword, the two knights sneered and scoffed at Mead. The taller one let out a grunt as he stared at the struggling boy, "So you're back, huh? This isn't going to be any fun at all if he's the only one trying."

"So now, the levy charge will be twenty times the original amount!" The fat knight shouted as he got in close to Mead's face, but the boy ignored his words as he continued to pull as much as he could, even as some of the villagers began to react negatively to the boy's actions.

"You know you can't pull out that sword!"

"Stop it kid! You're only making things worse for us!"

This continued until one voice could heard from within the crowd, "That's enough!" All of the citizens of Vayna Village quieted almost instantly as they turned to see the village headman walking through the parting crowd with his hands resting behind his back and a stern look on his face.

"… Chief?"

The elderly man's frown deepened as he continued to speak to the people of his village. "Who was the one who wounded our pride as ale-makers while insulting the skills that have been improved and refined in the decades since our village produced its first drink? Was it Mead? No, it was not!" The firmness of the headman's words made many in the crowd surrounding him bow their heads in shame at how their actions against the orphan, "That boy was only expressing the feelings we were all feeling deep down inside us, showing more bravery and heart in his actions than any of us were willing to do ourselves."

 ** _"You really care about the villagers, right? Never give up on those feelings."_** Naruto's words echoed through Mead's mind as he continued pulling at Holy Knight's sword with all of his strength, with memories of how the entire village had been there for him after his parent's died. Even if the village chief was saying otherwise, Mead knew that it was still his fault that the water had dried up and the gruit was dead. There was no way he would give up on trying to make things right… Because… He loved Vayna Village and all of the people in it! Mead's thoughts came to a halt as he felt a soft hand place itself over his gripping the hilt while the other rested against his back, making him turn his head to see the innkeeper with a kind look on her face, "Auntie?"

"The Village Chief is right…" The woman started to say began as she flashed the boy a warm smile, "You aren't to blame for this, Mead."

The innkeeper wasn't the only one as the other children rushed to Mead's side and started helping him in trying to pull out the sword as well. But they were only the first as all the other menfolk in the village walked up to the children and lightly pushed them out of the way before tying several ropes around the hilt once Mead had let go, all of the fear and aggression that was pouring out of them before had completely vanished as they all worked together to get the sword out of the ground.

"Hey! Didn't you people hear what we said?!" Apparently the actions of the villagers didn't agree with the two knights as they were the ones becoming irritated instead, but all of the strongmen in Vanya Village continued to ignore the two as they gathered around each line of rope and started to pull as hard as they could, with Mead in front of all of them. "It's twenty times now! Twenty!"

"Let's do it!"

All of the men roared as they heaved, giving it everything they had to pull the sword out as the women and children watched with worry and anticipation. But even with all of their efforts, the weapon didn't budge even a fraction of an inch. This only made the two knights get red in the face as they downed their booze, laughing from their spot on the sealed well while watching the group continue to struggle. They were finding entertainment in how much the villagers were suffering and happily getting drunk from their 'show'.

"Come out…" Mead muttered as he gritted his teeth, tears building up over his eyes as he continued to pull as hard as he could, despite feeling an intense pain coming from his hands turning an angry red from the resistance. "Come out, damn it!"

The knights cackled louder at this, "He looks so desperate!"

"What a bunch of morons!"

As the drunk idiots were about to clank their mugs toether, they noticed that they hands were now empty and stared at their vacant hands in confusion. The two were snapped out of their confusion as a voice spoke up, "I may not drink alcohol, but anyone who can't appreciate good quality stuff doesn't deserve to enjoy it." The knights turned their heads to see two male blondes walking towards the crowd, the taller blonde propping a giant black sword over his shoulder with one hand while the other had both knights' mugs.

Meanwhile, the people of Vanya Village still held fast onto the various ropes pulling on the sword, before each one of them snapped from the strain and sent the men to the ground. The women, children and the village elder watched in horror as the men groaned in defeat while dust filled the air, until they caught sight of Meliodas and Naruto walking towards the sword still stuck in the ground, the two avoiding all of the men with ease. "Here you go, Meliodas." Naruto said as he passed the two stolen mugs over to the shorter blonde, who helped himself to the ale in both as the two walked up to the sword firmly embedded into the ground before coming to a stop. "You guys mind if I give it a stab?"

"Huh?" Mead and the other villagers stared at Naruto in confusion as he moved his greatsword off his shoulders before bringing it close to the exposed part of the Holy Knight's sword. While some thought that he was going to strike the weapon, they were surprised to see Naruto simply tap it with the edge of his large sword. Nodding to himself as he pulled his greatsword back, Naruto stabbed it into the ground to hold it in place before reaching both hands out and took the Holy Knight's sword hilt in a tight grip.

"I'm not old enough to drink yet, so I can't enjoy your Vanya Ale unlike the guy next to me. But for now, how about the two of us pay for those two drinks with this…" The large smile on Naruto's face thinned as he started pulling on the sword, feeling some resistance at first before he started using more of his strength, causing cracks to form under his feet as he used more and more strength in his efforts. The villagers and the two knights watched in awe as the sword slowly started to give as it slowly rose up from the ground, a few veins forming along the exposed parts of Naruto's arms as he continued pulling the sword out. Letting out a powerful shout as he made one final tug as the sword looked ready to pop out, and to the villager's delight, it did, before the sword went flying out of the blonde's hands as he started to fall backwards from the sudden lack of resistance.

But before he hit the floor, a smirking Meliodas moved behind him with one hand pressed against Naruto's back and help him stay on his feet. "Not bad at all. Looks like we don't need a second try, huh, Naruto."

"I just don't like the idea of giving up." Naruto replied as he looked back at the Dragon Sin with a large grin. "Besides, it was a lot easier after I disrupted the magic flowing through the sword. Canceling out magic even for a few seconds can really help out, so all I needed to really worry about was the strength that was used to stab it into the ground."

 _'Canceling out the magic… So that sword can use Anti-Magic, huh?'_ Meliodas thought to himself as Naruto adjusted himself and walked over to his black sword before pulling it out. None of the villagers could not believe their eyes as they stared at the two smiling blondes stand next to where the sword of the Holy Knight used to be. Even all of the men working together had failed to remove the weapon from the earth, and yet the taller employee of the Boar Hat, who seemed to have a modest build under his uniform, was able to do it by himself.

Meanwhile, the sword was still airborne as it spun wildly until it landed right in front of the two soldiers, who were now shaking in fear as they saw that both Meliodas and Naruto were now looking at them. "But that's impossible!" One of the knights said with a gaped mouth, both he and his companion couldn't believe what had just happened, and yet neither were drunk enough to have imagined such a thing. "Only a Holy Knight could pull that sword out… So how did a mere teenager…"

"You two might want to move." Naruto spoke up with a smirk as he pointed at where the two men were sitting, to which they blinked in confusion until a rumbling could be felt coming from the ground around them, the vibrations getting stronger by the second. Finally registering what the blonde was hinting at, two sweat-coated men exchanged a look of realization… before the wooden seal of the well they were sitting on burst open and a powerful spout of cool, clear water burst from the well, sending the two flying off. The released water showered over the village square, sparkling in the sun like millions of diamond droplets, forming rainbows over the cheering villagers. "Can't say I didn't warn them…" Naruto muttered as he held out a cupped hand to catch some of the water before bringing it to his mouth. The magicless knight took a few gulps of the water in his hand before his eyes snapped open in amazement, sparkles shining in his eyes as he grinned widely, "WHOOOOOAAA~! THIS IS THE BEST WATER I'VE EVER TASTED!"

"Told you so." Meliodas replied with a grin of his own as the villagers around them continued to cheer, with some of the children running around and playing with the waters that had been returned to them. Turning his head to where the two knights had landed, the shorter blonde made his way over to the two, grabbing the removed Holy Knight's sword along the way before coming to a stop in front of them. The two knights let out pained groans as they tried to piece together what had just happened, only to look up and see a smiling Meliodas with sword in hand, until he tossed it to the floor in front of them. "This is yours. Don't want to forget it."

Both men once again quivered with fear, one of them quickly taking the sword before they ran from the village as fast as they could, whimpering like children the entire time until their forms disappeared into the distance. Meliodas turned himself around to see all of the excited villagers move about and enjoying their new found freedom from the Holy Knights, a smile still on his face as he looked at all of the happy faces until he caught sight of Elizabeth talking to Naruto as the blonde sealed his sword back into his Grimoire. While the smile on Meliodas' face dimmed lightly, it still remained as he watched the two. After watching Naruto in action and listening to his story, the Dragon Sin could kind of see why Yami took an interest in Naruto, and why the blonde was made Elizabeth's personal knight. Even without magic, the teenager had a lot of potential and courageous heart filled with kindness, the latter being something that a lot of the current Holy Knights seemed to have lost… Hopefully it wouldn't become a problem down the road.

"Hey, mister! That was so amazing!" Naruto and Elizabeth turned to see Mead walking up to the two of them with admiration in the boy's eyes. While he had originally dismissed everyone from the Boar Hat as people who asked too many questions and assumed they weren't anything special, especially after the eating the horrible food the shorter blonde had cooked. But after seeing what just happened, only one thing flashed through his mind, about the people that were considered criminals by the Holy Knights. "Are you really…?"

"Nobody special. I'm just the magicless idiot that works at the Boar Hat." Naruto interrupted with a grin as he looked down at Mead, placing his hands on his hips while Elizabeth let out a small giggle at her knight's words, at least, until he finished his sentence. "Working with a boss that's a perverted midget, a talking pig and a clumsy crybaby for a waitress."

"N-Naruto!" A red-faced Elizabeth whined at the title as she beat her fists against a smirking Naruto's shoulders, something he had used to call her when they were younger that always annoyed her. "I told you to stop calling me that!"

"As the proprietor of the fine drinking establishment and your boss, don't forget that you have to do whatever I order you to." Meliodas spoke as he walked up to the group with a deadpanned stare, something that scared Naruto a little as the magicless teenager let out a gulp. Satisfied with Naruto's reaction, the Dragon Sin turned his head to look over at Mead, who was trying to figure out if the group was really part of the Seven Deadly Sins. "Enough about us though. Don't you have something else that you need to focus on?"

Confused at the man's words, Mead turned around and saw that the villagers had stopped celebrating and staring in their direction with looks of shame on most of their faces. The village chief was the one who spoke up with an apologetic look himself, "Look Mead, we were wrong… Could you ever forgive us for treating you the way we did?"

Mead shook his head as he weakly tried to dismiss the elderly man's words, "What right do I have to forgive all of you? It's not like I'm not a part of the village..." The boy was shaken out of his thoughts as he felt someone push him forward lightly, making him turn to see that Meliodas behind him as he lowered his hands to his waist.

"Go on..." That was all Meliodas said as he smiled at Mead, even as the boy turned to face him with Elizabeth, Hawk and Naruto standing behind the midget.

Wh-What the hell?! What do you mean, go on?" Neither Meliodas, nor the three standing behind him, answered the boy. He slowly turned back to look at the villagers while softly denying his place in Vayna Village, only for tears to build up in his eyes as the people across from him started to say his name multiple times, until he finally broke down and rushes over to the large crowd with tears falling down his cheeks.

"You can lie to yourself all you want, but there's no way you'll be able to fool your own heart." Blinking a few times at Meliodas' words, Naruto turned his head towards his fellow blonde and noticed a somewhat depressed look on his face.

A similar look appeared on Naruto's face as he looked back at the villagers surrounding Mead, "… Yeah…"

This time, Elizabeth was the one to look at the two and blinked in surprise. Despite the difference in height, build, etc.… it was surprising to see how similar the two looked in that very moment.

 **(Later That Night)**

"A toast to Naruto of the Boar Hat! Cheers!" Inside the Boar Hat, the tavern was bustling with customers from Vanya Village, celebrating the blonde employee's achievement and ridding the villagers of the cruel punishment that would have ruined them. Naruto merely smiled as he worked hard on serving people ale and other liquors from the bar counter and cooking up some simple meals for people to enjoy, having some difficulty with keeping up the pace.

"I'm...not sure if I'm ready...it's the first time I've done something like this. My heart is pounding." Naruto turned his attention turns to the nervous Elizabeth as he heard her speak up, seeing her standing behind the counter a few feet away with a wooden tray in her hand. It was understandable seeing the girl so nervous, since being a waitress was at the very bottom of things that you'd expect to see a princess do.

Meliodas was nodding his head at this, leaning a little closer to her as he spoke. "I see. So, it's your first time. Could you just say that again, but slower?"

The Sin of Wrath was rewarded with an empty mug slamming into the back of his head, courtesy of an annoyed Naruto glaring at his back. "Stop acting like a pervert towards Elizabeth, or I'm sending you through a wall!"

"Get some work done, you pervert!" Hawk shouted in agreement as he stuck his head over the counter.

Meliodas ignored the small, cartoonish lump that formed on the back of his head before giving the princess a comforting smile, leaning back on the counter as he gave her advice. "Tell you what. Just focus only on being a waitress for today. Don't worry about gathering intel. The most important thing to do is relax, especially in this kind of work."

"And yet, you've got me pretty much doing everything else." Naruto muttered to himself with an annoyed look as he cooked up some fried rice, the blonde didn't know that many recipes, but he knew how to make some things. Shaking his head a few times before looking over at Elizabeth, who seemed to hype herself up into being relaxed, "Take things one step at a time, Elizabeth. If you try to do too much at once, it'll backfire on you."

"R-Right! I can do that!" Elizabeth exclaimed as she went to work and walked to the first table… Leaving a slightly worried Naruto and blank-faced Meliodas to watch as the princess kept messing up repeatedly by either tripping whenever she rushed to a table, accidentally causing an ale-filled mug to spill over a man's head, and misstep while throwing the food into a customer's face. The princess made her way over to a window as Naruto took over in being the waiter for a bit while Hawk cleaned up all the messes that were created.

"Oh yeah! Looks like there won't be any shortage of scraps tonight!" An excited Hawk said to himself, enjoying the scraps created from Naruto's food over the crap Meliodas' makes.

Naruto patted the teary-eyes Elizabeth on the head as she stood next to the bulletin board that had the Wanted Posters of the Seven Deadly Sins, "Don't let it get to you, Elizabeth. These things take time to get used to."

"…Yeah…" A disappointed Elizabeth replied as she watched Naruto handle some of the tables with a smile on his face, but that only made the girl feel worse. Even if it was an experience she had never done before, the silver haired girl wanted to be useful to her traveling companions, but instead she was just causing trouble despite the reassurances she was given by the customers and Naruto.

"You've never waited tables in your life before, have you?"

"Eep!"

The princess nearly jumped out of her skin at the sudden voice and looked down to see Mead standing next to her. The boy had a grin on his face as he looked up at her, "It's so obvious that a blind man could tell. You completely suck at this job!"

"Now that's enough, Mead! Don't you start mouthing off again!" The innkeeper from earlier shouted from behind the boy, making him and Elizabeth look at the older woman as she continued, "Did you learn your lesson from today?"

A little ways from the three, Naruto was watching them with a bitter smile as the older woman seemed to say something that surprised Mead, causing the boy to quickly apologize to the woman. The teenager looked around the room and saw that everyone was content as they chatted with each other, before placing his wooden tray on the counter and walked passed Meliodas, who was cleaning some mugs. "Sorry, but I'm gonna get some fresh air for a little bit."

Meliodas watched as his fellow blonde made is way out the door, waiting a few minutes before he followed the teenager outside, and found Naruto on the steps just outside the door. The magicless teen was silently staring up at the moon and stars with his hands resting on the floor at his sides. "What're you doing out here?"

"You followed me outside?" Naruto questioned as the Dragon Sin walked next to him, "Why? I'm not going to be out here long."

"No reason, really. Just felt like coming out here." Meliodas replied as he settled down next to Naruto, though his attention seemed to be more focused on the sky ahead. An eerie silence fell upon the two as they both stared out at the empty village below and the night sky above their heads, before it was interrupted by Naruto letting out a low chuckle.

"You know… I actually lied a bit to Mead earlier…"

"Really?" Meliodas continued staring up at the sky.

"I had said how the Old Man took an interest in me even when others ignored my existence and treated me like a freak… But really, I was the one who took an interest in him." Naruto admitted as he rested his arms on his knees while leaning forwards, "It was just by chance, or probably on a whim, but he actually save me from a bandit trying to kill me… I was amazed by how easily he beat the guy before walking off like nothing happened, though he did take everything the thief stole from me."

 _'Sounds just like him.'_ Meliodas thought to himself as a white haired man flashed through his mind.

"I chased after him for a good while, even after he got annoyed by it and gave me back everything that was stolen… I kept following him though, and begged him to teach me to be strong and a good thief. He said no almost immediately," An exhausted laugh escaped Naruto's lips as he recalled what had happened, and how aggravated the man had been when Naruto managed to follow him even after the former's attempts to ditch the kid. "I kept asking him for days whenever I saw him around town, until finally he decided to teach me something… He spent days showing me how to steal from simple people without getting caught, before he started teaching me a few more things whenever he wasn't drunk off his ass at the time… I wasn't lying when I said that it was fun… Though, to him, I was probably an annoying kid that he couldn't wait to get rid himself of… Sorry for rambling. It's just… seeing Mead back there, with all those people that care about him, got me thinking about the past."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"A whiskered-faced brat that doesn't know when to quit, wants to become my apprentice." Meliodas finally spoke up, surprising Naruto as he looked up at the Dragon Sin in shock.

"What did you say?"

"That's what Ban told us one day out of the blue," Meliodas kept the blank expression on his face as he stood up from the steps to move around until he was near the cliff, "King would get pissed off whenever Ban bragged about the student he took on to learn the art of thievery, especially when we would later get reports of a young boy and someone matching Ban's description being seen running with sacks of stolen goods on them. Ban wouldn't stop grinning and talking about how much the kid soaked up his lessons like a sponge."

"… Heh, sounds like the Old Man when he's wasted." Naruto commented as he recalled Ban calling him a whiskered-faced brat many times in the past.

"Maybe so," The short blonde shrugged as he finally turned to face Naruto, a strangely serious look on Meliodas' face as he spoke. "But it was also because of that, that Yami discovered you and took you under his wing, and how you ended up meeting Elizabeth… Hmm, maybe a little to the left?""

Naruto blinked a few times before looking down at the ground, a small smile on his face. "I guess the Old Man was looking out for me in his own, stupid way… Thanks, Meliodas."

"No problem. Can't have you pouting out here while Elizabeth is taking care of things on her own."

As soon as the words escaped the Sin's lips, the two heard the sound of crashing followed by apologies coming from the princess in question. A soft-grinning Naruto looked back at the doorway before turning back to Meliodas, "... I don't mean just coming out and talking to me, for whatever reason you had behind it, I also mean helping Elizabeth out when we got separated. I can't imagine what I'd do if anything happened to her…"

"… You both have a long road ahead of the two of you. Gathering all the Seven Deadly Sins, saving the kingdom from the Holy Knights and protecting the people that are suffering because of the Holy Knights." Meliodas turned his head back to looking up at the sky, taking in some stars twinkling brightly overhead. "I can tell that the both of you are trying everything you can to make a better future. Elizabeth wouldn't have found me if she wasn't doing everything she can, and as her knight, you are giving everything you've got to support her. Everyone has their own specific roles to play."

"Their specific roles, huh?" Naruto repeated to himself before noticing that the smile on Meliodas' face was switched with a serious look as he focused his locked onto something in the air. The magicless knight's eyes suddenly widened as he sensed something coming in from a large distance and coming in fast, rising up to his feet quick and rushed up to Meliodas' side before looking in the same direction that the shorter blonde was and saw something shining as it was coming in close. The object soon came into view and was revealed to be a spear covered in lightning that looked like it was about to strike Vanya Village and the surrounding area, only for Meliodas to push Naruto out of its reach before catching it with one hand, but the force made the Sin of Wrath and the lance fly off the cliff towards the village below. "Shit! Meliodas!"

"Naruto! What's going on?!" A worried Elizabeth called out as she ran out of the tavern towards Naruto next to the cliff, though the blonde didn't take his eyes off of Meliodas's figure as the man continued down the mountain before heading towards the village, crashing into a few empty buildings in the process. "Is that Sir Meliodas?!"

 _'He was able to sense that attack way before it got into my range!'_ Naruto thought to himself as Meliodas soon came to a stop in the middle of the village, narrowing his eyes as he watched the Dragon Sin spin around before throwing the weapon back in the same direction it had come from, with even more strength than what had been sent towards them. "… Holy crap…" That was all Naruto could say at that moment as he watched the spear disappear before a second even passed. There was no doubt that the attack had come from a Holy Knight, a powerful one at that… and more than likely, the same Holy Knight that left his sword into Vayna Village.

"Whoa~! Just look at that mess!" Hawk exclaimed as he and the villagers exited the Boar Hat to see the destruction that was caused.

"Naruto! We have to get down there!" Elizabeth said as she looked over at her knight, snapping Naruto out of his thoughts before he nodded his head at her orders. Wrapping an arm around her waist with one arm while grabbing a startled Hawk with his free hand, Naruto leaped off the cliff much to the pig's dismay and the villager's shock before the large group headed towards the path leading to the village. Ignoring the squeals coming from the pig tucked under his arm, the blonde teenager used various boulders sticking out of the cliff face as stepping stones until the three were on the ground level and let a slightly shaken Elizabeth and Hawk stand on their own. But the three didn't wait for the villagers as they ran towards the destroyed village as fast as they could until they caught sight of Meliodas, who seemed to be uninjured except for his torn left sleeve and the blood covering his left palm. "Sir Meliodas! Are you alright?!"

"Yeah." The Dragon Sin replied as he stood up.

"Was it the same Holy Knight who left his sword in the ground?" Elizabeth asked as she saw the villagers finally arrive and see all the destroyed buildings.

"No doubt about it, I think that's our cue to get out of this village as soon as we can." Naruto spoke up as he looked at the damaged caused by the spear that Meliodas had intercepted, not wanting to find out what would've happened if it had been successful. Seeing the Captain of the Seven Deadly Sins in action certainly erased any doubts that Naruto may of had since meeting the midget, being able to sense the incoming attack from so far away, intercept it before tossing it back... that took a ridiculous amount of skill and strength. Especially since there was only one person that Naruto knew of that used that kind of Lightning Magic.

Staring down at his bloody palm as he shook it a few times, Meliodas nodded his head as he looked up. "Agreed. If we stay here for too much longer, we'll be putting this place in even more danger."

"It'd be nice if we had a place to hide from the Holy Knights for a bit." Hawk added.

Elizabeth blinked a few times at the pig's words before recalling something she heard earlier, "Now that you mention it…"

"What's up?" Meliodas asked as he, Hawk and Naruto turned to the princess, who was in a thinking pose.

"Earlier, Mead had said he'd do anything to not go to the "Forest of White Dreams." Elizabeth explained as she thought back to the conversation she had earlier with Mead and the innkeeper, "In fact, he said that even Holy Knights steer clear of it."

"No Holy Knights, huh?" Naruto commented as he, too, went into a thinking pose.

"That's sounds perfect!" Hawk snorted happily at the suggestion.

"That settles it. Except we're not going there to hide." Meliodas nodded his head, before punching his fist into an open palm with a grin. "Because we're gonna be doing exactly what we're supposed to be doing."

A confused Hawk tilted his head at that, "What does that mean?"

"If Holy Knights don't want to go into this forest, then it is the perfect place to hide… and start looking for the next one." Naruto spoke up as he figured out what Meliodas was driving at, his words leading Elizabeth to also piece it together as a smile formed on her face.

"Okay! Time to find another Sin!" Meliodas declared as he led the group back Boar Hat, where Hawk's Mom was waiting for them. Saying their goodbyes to Mead and the other residences of Vayna Village, the group headed off while the sun started to rise in the distance. As Hawk's Mom started her journey towards the Forest of White Dreams, the group turned their attention to Elizabeth as she let out a yawn, which made Meliodas grin. "Okay, it'll be a while before we arrive at the forest. So let's rest up for now! I'll take you to your bed, Elizabe-"

"DON'T EVEN TRY IT!"

 **NELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNELNEL**

 _So the first chapter of my NarutoXSeven Deadly Sins Xover is done. As you can see, I mostly skipped the first episode since it would've been almost exactly the same as another story, so I changed it to make it more original. There is a lot more to Naruto's situation than most of you would think, so don't assume this is an OC character or any of those annoying comments about how he is different from the canon Naruto. The next chapter will bring in the next Sin, who waits in the Forest of White Dreams, but what else awaits the group as they search for Meliodas' comrades. You'll just have to find out in the next chapter._ _So, like always be sure to leave some nice reviews, but remember that all flames and insults will be IGNORED, so don't bother writing them. I hope you enjoyed reading the chapter and I hope to see you again._

 _A/N: I am currently working on are the next chapter of **Golden Devil** , but I felt the strong urge to finish this chapter first, and then after I will work on **Dhampir of Yokai Academy**_

 _A/N 2: **This is real important. Since most of my readers keep asking me to work on different stories at once, and working on one chapter at a time before going to the next can be a pain, I decided to put up a poll on my account for you guys to vote. It will be simple, each selection will have one of my stories as options, and each of those options will focus on an Arc/Season that will take several chapters to complete. Pick the one you want me to focus on first. The winner will be the first story I focus on, and then the runner-up and so on.**_

 ** _See you next time!_**


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